Eighteen Seconds

He has become incapable of catching his thought; he has retained his entire lucidity; but whatever thought occurs to him he is incapable of giving it external form, that is to translate it into the appropriate gestures or words. He lacks the words, they no longer respond to his call, he is reduced into seeing images pass inside him, a surfeit of contradictory images, unrelated among themselves. This makes him incapable of mingling with the lives of others or pursuing any activity.

Antonin Artaud— Notes for Les dix-huit secondes (Eighteen Seconds)